Lessons Learned about RV Living Full Time

Learning lessons and RV Living go hand in hand. As we approach our 2-year Nomadiversary, it seems appropriate to reflect on some of the biggest lessons we’ve learned on the road.

These lessons are focused on “how to enjoy RV travel” more than the mechanical side of RV living.

** Infographic at bottom for Pinterest sharing **

1. Slow Down

This was the hardest lesson for us to learn, but also the most rewarding. A common mistake for newbie RVers is to travel too quickly. There’s so much to see – and racing from place to place is the only way to do it… or so it seems.

Once we learned to settle down and stay at each location for a week or so, our days became more enjoyable. We were able to get to know an area and explore the local parts of each community – not just the tourist attractions.

We also began traveling shorter distances between each stop. Driving a big rig or towing a trailer can be pretty stressful. Once we cut down the miles on travel days, we found our moods to be more relaxed and less “on edge”.

2. Boondocking Makes Us Happy

Boondocking, although intimidating at first, is the most amazing way to connect with the surrounding environment. And, connecting with the environment is medicine for the soul!

It took us almost a year of RV Life to become comfortable with boondocking. Thanks to Campendium and FreeCampsites, we learned how to research and find the best, and safest, boondocking sites around.

We encourage everyone to, at least, try boondocking once or twice. There are many sites with close proximity to towns – so, you don’t have to actually be out in the boonies to give it a go.

Boondocking is one of the keys to a happy RV life for us!

3. Roll With It

Just like any other aspect of life, we never have complete control over a situation. Over our 2 years of traveling, we’ve learned how to let go of our expectations and “roll with it.” Breaking down happens, weather happens, and like they say, shit happens. We just have to realize that any unfortunate event is a learning experience.

4. Community is Important

We dove into RV life without any knowledge of “RV Community.” Our first six months on the road were completely void of making friends or evening knowing how to make friends on the road.

Thanks to Xscapers, we realized there are many people like us living the same lifestyle. Their community of “Working Age RVers” introduced us to some of the best friends we have.

Social Media is another way we’ve learned to make friends while RVing. These “digital friendships” often materialize into “in person” friendships.

5. Staying Healthy & Active

It was easy for health to take a back seat when we were traveling quickly and covering many miles each week. Gas Station snacks and eating out became daily habits.

Once we slowed down our travels, we began to cook our meals and enjoy hiking. Doing daily physical activities is one way we maintain a good mood. It’s also important that our pup is getting the daily activity she needs.

If we’re all active – we’re all happy. That’s a big lesson learned.

6. Free Activities

Each town we visit offers so many free activities. This is something we didn’t really know upon starting the RV adventure. Like we said earlier, in the beginning we jumped from tourist spot to tourist spot, paying a premium for activities. Slowing down our travels helped us discover free activities and allowed us to get to know local areas more in depth.

We’ve stumble upon car shows, farmers markets, outdoor concerts and more, simply by walking around the town we’re in. Hiking is another free activity we like to seek out. We never know what to expect, and that’s half the fun!

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8 thoughts on “Lessons Learned about RV Living Full Time”

We agree with these lessons. We are in our third year and have learned the very same ones!! Slowing down was harder than I thought. We started volunteering as a way to slow down and to save a little money. Then adding boondocking to the list was even better! We were intimidated at first, as you mentioned, but it is awesome. We have followed your blog and taken advantage of some of your “finds”. Thanks! Finally, just to add to the list of free things to do – how about geocaching? We love it and they are everywhere!!! In the middle of town, on trails and even internationally.
Thanks for your posts! Safe travels!

Informative article. I would add to your list for a full timer is to have a project for slow days when it is raining and cold. I putting together stuff for a book which keeps my brain occupied and challenged

We love all the input you both give us. We are going to begin our full time adventure next June 2018! We are excited to not have a home to stress over and all the upkeep. We are not wealthy by any means but hope to have enough to travel comfortably and be able to enjoy seeing America! Hopefully we will get to meet you both one day soon and have lunch or whatever. We love your cd, thanks so much for it!